Scots DJ Arielle Free is opening the show for Calvin Harris this weekend at his sell-out Hampden show. First up on the decks is the Stirling-born DJ, who will get the crowd going before Calvin, 38, takes to the stage later in the night.
This will be his first performance back in his home country since headlining the iconic T in The Park in 2016, as fans will be gearing up for the big event. The show will be kicking off at 5pm with Scottish DJ Arielle, who will be playing a one-hour set.
She will be followed by Dissciples who will be on from 6.15pm until 7.15pm. MK will take to the stage at 7.30pm until 8.30 before Calvin takes over at 9pm until 11pm. Speaking of her excitement for this weekend, Arielle shared on Instagram: "HAMPDEN F****** STADIUM in my hometown for the main man @calvinharris alongside @marckinchen @disciples "
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Here's a deep dive into the talented DJ Arielle Free..
Stirling beginning
Arielle, now a successful DJ performing across the world, grew up in Stirling before moving to Glasgow at the age of 10. Speaking to the Observer, she revealed: “We kind of moved around in Stirling, we were in Bannockburn for a bit and I went to St Ninians Primary before heading off to Glasgow.
“I have really fond memories because I was part of a theatre company called Sair Feet which used to do re-enactments in the castle and at the Tolbooth, so I was playing Mary Queen of Scots and doing site-specific plays through the summer when it was so busy with tourists. “I was also part of the Girl Guides and we did end-of-term shows, that’s when I first started dancing and then I started doing ballet classes at about seven or eight years old and my teacher called me to Scottish Ballet classes which started me out on the path.
“There was a report card from a lovely teacher called Mrs Mackintosh who said that ‘Arielle works hard but talks too much’ so I was suppose the gift of the gab was something I was brought up with and I’ve managed to make a career out of it. She added: “I think I became a bit more streetwise living in Glasgow, but I remember visiting my mum when she lived in Callander and it was great having the mix between the countryside and city life. “One of the best examples was when I was coming up from London and getting on the bus in Callander and all of the wee ladies on the bus were greeting the driver - who was called Alex - and they were even getting a bit flirty with him!
“I got on the bus a few months later and Alex asked me how London was going - it’s [Callander] just a small place and everyone knows who you are, you can’t be anonymous there like you can be in London.”
TV and film
The 34-year-old broadcaster had a role in one of the biggest franchises on the planet as she starred in Harry Potter. In 2005, she played a Beauxbatons student and Seamus Finnigan's dance partner at the Yule Ball in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Arielle got this job after her move from Scotland at the age of 18 to continue her dance training at the prestigious London Studio Centre. In fact, she even defied her lecturers orders when it came to auditioning for the fourth Harry Potter instalment.
Speaking to The Sun, she revealed: “I was such a huge Harry Potter fan, I basically ignored what I was told, gatecrashed the audition, got the job and had to defer my course for a year. It was amazing though and I’m so glad I did it, and some of my fellow Beauxbatons are still best friends to this day. It was amazing as it helped me get a load of other dance work afterwards.”
She adds: “I also started choreographing videos for bands and that’s when I began to interview them. I would make YouTube videos and got my show reel together.
"That led to my first telly job on Pop Girl TV. My first interview was with Justin Bieber. He was very embarrassed because he had a brace on at the time and was really shy.
"But that gave me an insight on how to interview artists. From there I got on 4Music TV, then joined a family show on ITV called Scrambled in 2014 as their music girl.”
She has also appeared on a number of panel shows like Pointless Celebrity, CelebAbility, and Celebrity Mastermind.
Radio and podcasts
Since 2018, Arielle has been presenting the official Love Island podcast Love Island: The Morning After since 2018 with Kem Cetinay. Kem won the third season of the show alongside then girlfriend Amber Davies in 2017.
Episodes are released in the mornings, Monday to Saturday, and discuss the previous night’s episode giving listeners six juicy episodes per week. The two hosts get on famously well, as Arielle told Metro.co.uk back in 2018: "Me and Kem are getting on like a house on fire. I’m kind of like his auntie, or an older sister that’s not very cool."
In 2019, she began presenting the weekend early breakfast show on BBC Radio 1, which included Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. However, in January 2021, this changed and she moved to the weekday early breakfast show from Monday to Thursday.
Music
Alongside her successful broadcasting career, both on screen and on radio, Arielle still manages to find the time to focus on music. Most recently, the Scots DJ performed her first ever set at the Glastonbury festival last weekend as she buzzed on social media.
She is opening the show for fellow Scot Calvin Harris at his first homecoming gig in Scotland since 2016, and even has a weekly Ibiza residency throughout the summer. Speaking to the Daily Record, Arielle expressed how excited her family are to see her play in Hampden.
She said: “My Grandpa John has never seen me DJ before. It’s going to be such a moment. “But to be honest I think the only reason he’s coming is he’s a huge football fan and when he found out it was at the Scotland international stadium, as he called it, he said he wanted to go. I think he’s going to see the football pitch, although there will be flooring over it. I can’t wait for him to be there.
“Hopefully he’ll have a nice space around him because I can’t imagine he’ll want to be down the front moshing too hard. But he’s fit as a fiddle and one of the fittest people I know so he probably will be.”
Speaking about her Hampden gig, she added: “I still haven’t got over it. They are letting me play for an hour rather than half an hour because they know it’s my home town. I’m doing a residency at Hi Ibiza each Friday and last week popped in to see Calvin at his Ushuaia residency which is opposite. He’s just got bangers for days.
“People in Hampden are going to lose their minds it’s one of the best DJ gigs I’ve ever seen.”
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